Jacques Becker

Jacques Becker (September 15, 1906 - February 21, 1960) was a French screenwriter and film director. Becker was born in Paris. During the 1930s he worked as an assistant to director Jean Renoir. Part of the Comité de libération du cinéma français, during the German occupation of France in World War II, the Nazis held him in prison for a year. He married actress Françoise Fabian. Their son Jean Becker also became a film director. Jacques Becker died at the age of fifty-three in 1960 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. Selected filmography (directorial):
- Le Trou (1960)
- Les Amants de Montparnasse (Montparnasse 19), (1958)
- Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
- Casque d'or (1952)
- Édouard et Caroline (1951)
- Antoine et Antoinette (1947)
- La Grande illusion (1937) (assistant director)
- Madame Bovary (1933) (assistant director) Becker Becker Becker Becker

September 15

September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). There are 107 days remaining.

Events

- 608 - Saint Boniface IV becomes Pope.
- 921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
- 1514 - Thomas Wolsey is appointed Archbishop of York.
- 1556 - Vlissingen ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain.
- 1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.
- 1590 - Giambattista Catagna is elected as Pope Urban VII.
- 1644 - Giambattista Pamfili becomes Pope Innocent X, succeeding Pope Urban VIII.
- 1656 - England & France sign peace treaty.
- 1683 - Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. is founded by 13 immigrant families.
- 1749 - According to mathematical calculations, Pluto moves outside Neptune's orbit to remain the outermost planet until 1979.
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: British land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.
- 1789 - The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign Affairs).
- 1812 - The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
- 1821 - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua jointly declare independence from Spain.
- 1830 - The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens (see also deaths, below).
- 1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
- 1835 - The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
- 1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1857 - Timothy Alder patents the typesetting machine.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
- 1873 - Franco-Prussian War: The last German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.
- 1883 - The Bombay Natural History Society is founded in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
- 1894 - First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats China in the Battle of Ping Yang.
- 1914 - World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.
- 1916 - World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
- 1928 - Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
- 1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
- 1931 - In Scotland, the two-day Invergordon Mutiny against Royal Navy pay cuts begins.
- 1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
- 1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
- 1940 - World War II: The Battle of Britain ends with a Royal Air Force victory over the Luftwaffe.
- 1941 - The U.S. Attorney General rules that the Neutrality Act is not violated when U.S. ships carry war materiel to British territories, opening the door for the Lend-Lease Act.
- 1942 - World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
- 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
- 1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
- 1946 - Baseball: The Brooklyn Dodgers are beating the Chicago Cubs, 2-0, in the 5th inning when a swarm of gnats causes the game to be postponed.
- 1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
- 1948 - The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 1080 km/h.
- 1949 - The television series The Lone Ranger premieres on the ABC.
- 1950 - Korean War: United States forces land at Incheon, Korea.
- 1951 - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes closes on Broadway in New York City after 740 performances.
- 1952 - United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
- 1954 - The U.S. Postal Service issues its 2¢ Thomas Jefferson Liberty Series stamp.
- 1955 - The I Love Lucy episode featuring John Wayne premieres.
- 1957 - West Germany holds its third parliamentary election. Konrad Adenauer remains chancellor.
- 1958 - A New Jersey commuter train crashes through a drawbridge, killing 48.
- 1959 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
- 1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.
- 1962 - The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1963 - The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
- 1964 - The Beatles play at a public auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
- 1964 - The Sun newspaper launches, replacing the Daily Herald.
- 1965 - The television series Lost in Space premieres.
- 1966 - The spaceship Gemini XI, with astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon aboard, returns to earth.
- 1967 - Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
- 1968 - The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
- 1969 - Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Steve Carlton sets a record by striking out 19 New York Mets in a single game.
- 1971 - Baseball: In a game against the Houston Astros, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 636th home run, tying Mickey Mantle for third spot on the career home runs list.
- 1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
- 1973 - Secretariat wins the Marlboro Cup in world record time.
- 1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
- 1975 - The French department of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- 1975 - Pink Floyd releases the album Wish You Were Here in the US and UK.
- 1976 - Soyuz 22 carries two cosmonauts into earth orbit for eight days.
- 1978 - Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks for the world heavyweight boxing title.
- 1980 - Paul McCartney releases "Temporary Secretary".
- 1981 - The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to the United States Supreme Court.
- 1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
- 1982 - The first issue of USA Today is published by Gannett.
- 1983 - Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.
- 1985 - Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concert begins.
- 1986 - First broadcast of the TV show LA Law on NBC.
- 1987 - U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
- 1988 - Lillehammer, Norway, beats Anchorage, Alaska, United States, to host the 1994 Winter Olympics.
- 1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
- 1990 - France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf.
- 1993 - Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament.
- 1994 - Muslim fundamentalists kidnap & behead 16 people in Algeria.
- 1997 - Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997
- 1997 - Hastings Wise murders four at the R.E. Phelon Company lawn mower parts manufacturing factory in Aiken, South Carolina. The only possible motive for the murders was Hastings' dismissal from his job eleven weeks earlier.
- 1998 - WorldCom and MCI Communications finish their landmark merger, forming MCI WorldCom which would later be renamed WorldCom and become the largest bankruptcy in United States history.
- 2000 - The 27th Summer Olympics opens in Sydney, Australia.
- 2001 - Alex Zanardi, driving in a CART race is injured in Germany, resulting in both legs being amputated below the knee.
- 2004 - Davíð Oddsson the longest serving Prime Minister of Iceland, steps down after serving in office from 1991, and becomes minister for foreign affairs. At the time he was the longest serving PM in Europe
- 2005 - Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellwegger file for divorce after four months of marriage.

Births

- 973 - Al-Biruni, mathematician (d. 1048)
- 1254 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
- 1580 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (d. 1659)
- 1613 - François de La Rochefoucauld, French writer (d. 1680)
- 1649 - Titus Oates, English minister and plotter (d. 1705)
- 1715 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (d. 1789)
- 1789 - James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist (d. 1851)
- 1828 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov, Russian chemist (d. 1886)
- 1857 - William Howard Taft, President of the United States and Supreme Court Justice (d. 1930)
- 1876 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (d. 1962)
- 1879 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
- 1881 - Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile engineer and designer (d. 1947)
- 1883 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (d. 1950)
- 1889 - Robert Benchley, American author (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
- 1890 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (d. 1974)
- 1894 - Jean Renoir, French film director (d. 1979)
- 1898 - J. Slauerhoff, Dutch poet and novelist (d. 1936)
- 1901 - Sir Donald Bailey, British engineer (d. 1985)
- 1903 - Roy Acuff, American musician (d. 1992)
- 1904 - King Umberto II of Italy (d. 1983)
- 1907 - Fay Wray, Canadian-born actress (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1913 - John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General and convicted Watergate criminal (d. 1988)
- 1914 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
- 1924 - Bobby Short, American musician (d. 2005)
- 1926 - Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician
- 1928 - Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1975)
- 1929 - Eva Burrows, Salvation Army general
- 1929 - Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1933 - Henry Darrow, American actor
- 1933 - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor
- 1937 - Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 - Gaylord Perry, baseball player
- 1940 - Merlin Olsen, American football player and actor
- 1941 - Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer
- 1946 - Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
- 1946 - Oliver Stone, American film director
- 1949 - Joe Barton, American politician
- 1951 - Johan Neeskens, Dutch football player
- 1961 - Dan Marino, American football player
- 1969 - Jim Curtiss, American writer
- 1976 - Paul Thomson, Scottish drummer (Franz Ferdinand)
- 1978 - Eidur Gudjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
- 1979 - Amy Davidson, American actress
- 1984 - Prince Harry of Wales

Deaths

- 1500 - John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1596 - Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (b. 1535)
- 1613 - Thomas Overbury, English writer (murdered) (b. 1581)
- 1643 - Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, Irish politician (b. 1566)
- 1649 - John Floyd, English Jesuit preacher (b. 1572)
- 1700 - André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect (b. 1613)
- 1701 - Edmé Boursault, French writer (b. 1638)
- 1707 - George Stepney, English poet and diplomat (b. 1663)
- 1712 - Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician
- 1750 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1690)
- 1794 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1725)
- 1803 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1719)
- 1830 - William Huskisson, first rail fatality
- 1842 - Pierre Baillot, French violinict and composer (b. 1771)
- 1859 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (b. 1806)
- 1864 - John Hanning Speke, British explorer (b. 1827)
- 1885 - Jumbo, P. T. Barnum's circus elephant (hit by a train)
- 1893 - Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (b. 1807)
- 1926 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
- 1930 - Milton Sills, American actor (b. 1882)
- 1945 - André Tardieu, Prime Minister of France (b. 1876)
- 1945 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer (shot) (b. 1883)
- 1965 - Steve Brown, American musician (b. 1890)
- 1972 - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1887)
- 1973 - King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (b. 1882)
- 1980 - Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (b. 1929)
- 1989 - Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b. 1905)
- 2003 - Jack Brymer, English clarinetist (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Josef Hirsal, Czech novelist (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (prostate cancer) (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

- In Slovakia - Holyday of the Seven sorrows of Virgin Maria
- In ancient Greece, the second day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the priests of Demeter declared the public start of the rites.
- Independence Day from Spain (1821) for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, celebrated everywhere with marches from schoolchildren.
- RC Saints - Feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows.
- Also see September 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
- Britain - the British commemorate the Battle of Britain on the day of the last massive Luftwaffe attack in 1940.
- Japan - Respect for the Aged Day before 2003; beginning in 2003, Respect for the Aged Day is held on the third Monday of September.
- Bulgaria - The first day of school.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15 BBC: On This Day] ---- September 14 · September 16 · August 15 · October 15 · more historical anniversaries ko:9월 15일 ja:9月15日 simple:September 15 th:15 กันยายน

February 21

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 313 days remaining, 314 in leap years.

Events

- 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria
- 1431 - The trial of Joan of Arc begins.
- 1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.
- 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
- 1613 - Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia .
- 1743 - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson".
- 1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren ironworks in Wales.
- 1842 - John J. Greenough patents the sewing machine.
- 1848 - Karl Marx publishes the Communist Manifesto.
- 1874 - The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first newspaper.
- 1875 - Jeanne Calment was born, going on to live for 122 years 164 days, the longest confirmed lifespan for any human being in history.
- 1878 - The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
- 1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
- 1893 - Thomas Edison receives two U.S. patents for a "Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps" and for a "Stop Device"
- 1916 - World War I: In France the Battle of Verdun begins.
- 1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
- 1937 - Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile
- 1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
- 1947 - In New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
- 1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.
- 1952 - Language Martyrs' Day, marking language-revolution in the then East Pakistan (currently, the independent state of People's Republic of Bangladesh)
- 1952] - The government of Winston Churchill abolishes Identity Cards in the UK to "set the people free".
- 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
- 1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba.
- 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
- 1970 - Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
- 1971 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- 1972 - President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
- 1972 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
- 1973 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
- 1974 - The long-running Japanese comic strip "Sazae-san]"] publishes its final installment in the [[Asahi Shimbun]].
- 1974 - The last [[Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt.
- 1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
- 1986 - The Legend of Zelda was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan.//Metallica released their 3rd album Master of Puppets.
- 1988 - Jimmy Swaggart, on his own televangelism program being taped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be temporarily leaving the pulpit.
- 1995 - Serkadji prison mutiny in Algeria; 4 guards and 96 prisoners killed in a day and a half.
- 1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
- 2000 - David Letterman returns to The Late Show over a month after having an emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery.
- 2003 - Over 100 concert goers die in a fire during a performance of the rock band Great White.
- 2004 - The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.

Births

- 1484 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
- 1556 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
- 1621 - Rebecca Nurse, American accused witch (d. 1692)
- 1675 - Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
- 1688 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
- 1705 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
- 1721 - John McKinly, American physician and President of Delaware (d. 1796)
- 1723 - Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
- 1728 - Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. 1762)
- 1791 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
- 1801 - John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
- 1821 - Charles Scribner, American publisher (d. 1871)
- 1836 - Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
- 1844 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
- 1865 - John Haden Badley, English author and school founder (d. 1967)
- 1867 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (d. 1934)
- 1880 - Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
- 1885 - Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist, writer, director, and actor (d. 1957)
- 1893 - Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
- 1893 - Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
- 1895 - Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
- 1903 - Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
- 1903 - Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
- 1907 - W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
- 1910 - Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
- 1910 - Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
- 1915 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
- 1917 - Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1925 - Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
- 1924 - Robert Mugabe first President of Zimbabwe
- 1927 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
- 1927 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
- 1933 - Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Rue McClanahan, American actress
- 1936 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
- 1937 - King Harald V of Norway
- 1937 - Gary Lockwood, American actor
- 1941 - James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
- 1942 - Margarethe von Trotta, French actor, film director, and writer
- 1943 - David Geffen, American record producer
- 1946 - Tyne Daly, American actress
- 1946 - Anthony Daniels, British actor
- 1946 - Alan Rickman, English actor
- 1947 - Olympia Snowe, American politician
- 1949 - Jerry Harrison, American musician
- 1953 - Christine Ebersole, American actress
- 1953 - William Petersen, American actor
- 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- 1958 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
- 1958 - Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
- 1961 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- 1961 - Christopher Atkins, American actor
- 1961 - Martha Hackett, American actress
- 1961 - Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
- 1963 - William Baldwin, American actor
- 1967 - Leroy Burrell, American sprinter
- 1969 - Eric Wilson, American musician (Sublime)
- 1970 - Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
- 1972 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
- 1974 - Ivan Campo, Spanish footballer
- 1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
- 1975 - Affirmed, American race horse (d. 2001)
- 1977 - Kevin Rose, American television host
- 1979 - Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
- 1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and singer
- 1983 - Braylon Edwards, American football player
- 1986 - Charlotte Church, Welsh singer

Deaths

- 1437 - King James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
- 1471 - John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
- 1513 - Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
- 1543 - Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
- 1554 - Hieronymus Bock, German botanist
- 1595 - Robert Southwell, English poet
- 1668 - John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b. 1616)
- 1677 - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
- 1715 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637)
- 1788 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- 1824 - Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Napoleon's wife, Josephine (b. 1781)
- 1846 - Emperor Ninko of Japan, (b. 1800)
- 1862 - Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
- 1926 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
- 1938 - George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
- 1941 - Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
- 1944 - Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
- 1945 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
- 1965 - Malcolm X, American black activist (b. 1925)
- 1967 - Charles Beaumont, American writer (b. 1929)
- 1968 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
- 1974 - Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1905)
- 1984 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- 1991 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
- 1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (b. 1948)
- 1996 - Morton Gould, American composer (b. 1913)
- 1999 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
- 2002 - John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
- 2004 - John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
- 2004 - Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933)
- 2005 - Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
- 2005 - Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

- Language Martyrs' Day - A day celebrated by Bengali speaking people for gaining right of mother tongue.
- International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
- Catholicism - Feast day of St Peter Damian.
- Presidents' Day in the United States (2005)
- Family Day in Alberta (2005)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/21 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050221.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 20 - February 22 - January 21 - March 21 -- listing of all days ko:2월 21일 ms:21 Februari ja:2月21日 simple:February 21 th:21 กุมภาพันธ์

1960

1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February

- January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 9-11 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
- January 14 - Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank are created
- January 21 - Mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa - 437 dead
- January 22 - In France, president Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massun, commander-in-chief for the French troops in Algeria
- January 22-23 - Jacques Piccard and Donald Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscape Trieste, reaching the depth of 10.916 meters
- January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
- January 24 - A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
- January 25 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
- February 1 - In Greensboro, N.C., four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
- February 5 - Particle accelerator of CERN inaugurated in Geneve, Switzerland
- February 8-February 9 - Adolph Coors II killed during an attempt to kidnap him in Colorado. Joseph Corbett Jr is arrested next October
- February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500,000. Coors is later found dead and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted.
- February 10 - In Brussels, conference about Congo independence begins
- February 11 - 12 Indian soldiers die in clashes with Chinese troops at the border
- February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
- February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb in Sahara
- February 18 - 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
- February 29-March 1 night - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.

March-April

Morocco
- March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
- March 6 - Canton of Geneve in Switzerland gives women the right to vote
- March 21 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
- March 22 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
- April 1 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1
- April 4 - First three female priests ordained in Sweden
- April 9 - Gunman attacks South African Prime Minister Verwoerd in Johannesburg and wounds him seriously
- April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of founder of Peugeot is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom
- April 13 - USA launches navigation satellite Transat I-b
- April 21 - In Brazil, The Country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) is founded to succeed Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Federal District.
- April 27 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship

May

- May 1 - Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane; the pilot Gary Powers is captured
- May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his nazi past
- May 9 - Reproductive rights: The Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill
- May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first under water circumnavigation of the Earth
- May 11 - In Buenos Aires four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was using the assumed name "Ricardo Klement"
- May 13 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's 7th highest mountain
- May 14 - Kenyan African National Congress party is founded in Kenya when three political parties join forces
- May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit
- May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris
- May 16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
- May 20 - In Japan, police carries away socialist members of the diet. Parliament then approves a security treaty with the USA
- May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Península de Taitao, loosing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record
- May 23 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured
- May 27 - In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celal Bayar and the government and invites General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.

June-July

- June 4 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
- June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1600 in Fukien province of China
- June 15 - Violent demonstrations in Tokyo University - police arrests 182, 589 are injured
- June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- June 22 - Erin Brockovich is born.
- June 23 - Japanese prime minister Kishi announces his resignation
- June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu elected the first president of independent Congo
- June 24 - Avro 748 first flight at Woodford, UK
- June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from UK - 5 days later it united with the former Italian Somaliland to create modern Somali Republic
- June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium - civil war follows
- June 30 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (modern-day Mali) gains independence from France
- July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shot down a six-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survived and were imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison. (see RB-47H shot down)
- July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- July 10 - The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship
- July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help
- July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded
- July 14 - United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal
- July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government.
- July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II - he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days
- July 27 - OECD founded

August

- August - Stanley Clifford Weyman, US impostor, is killed when he tries to prevent a robbery
- August 5 - Burkina Faso declares independence from France
- August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- August 6 - In Congo, Albert Kalonji declares independence of Autonomous State of South Kasai
- August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
- August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
- August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom
- August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France
- August 17 - Trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers begins in Moscow
- August 18 - Enovid, the first commercially produced oral contraceptive, is launched in Skokie, Illinois
- August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage
- August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft return to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
- August 20 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- August 25 - 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome. USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the north pole where the crew plays softball.
- August 29 - September 13 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida-New England area

September-October

- September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
- September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company (event lasted 2 days)
- September 5 - Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.
- September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest
- September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1)
- September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup
- September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC
- September 26 - The two leading US presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
- October 1 - Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
- October 3 - Jânio Quadros, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
- October 5 - White South Africans vote to make country a republic.
- October 7 - Second notable flood in Horncastle
- October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
- October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi asassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of Japanese Socialist Party
- October 14 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps
- October 24 - Rocket explodes in Baikonur space center during fueling - 91 dead
- October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight

November

Muhammad Ali
- November 1 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
- November 2 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office.
- November 13 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt. Interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50.
- November 15 - The Polaris missile is test launched
- November 22 - United Nations supports government of Joseph Kasa Vubu and Joseph Mobutu in Congo
- November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent of France
- November 30 - Production of the De Soto automobile brand ceases

December

- December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo was arrested by troops of Col. Joseph Mobutu.
- December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet space ship containing animals, insects and plants was launched into orbit. The spacecraft burned up upon re-entry.
- December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It was the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican church had visited the Pope.
- December 2 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1M for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees in Florida. Cuban refugees have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
- December 2 - Congolese soldiers arrest Patrice Lumumba.
- December 4 - Admission to the United Nations of Mauritania was vetoed by the USSR.
- December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, failed to appear in a Paris court. He was reported to have fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
- December 7 - The United Nations Security Council was called into session by the USSR to consider the Soviet demands that the U.N. seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
- December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria was marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
- December 12 - A Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's anti-integration laws were unconstitutional was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- December 13 - While the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was on a visit to Brazil, an unsuccessful revolt against his rule is carried out by his Imperial Guard. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen.
- December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
- December 14 - Antione Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville in the Congo that he has assumed the premiership.
- December 14 - OECD formed in Paris.
- December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
- December 15 - Royal wedding in Belgium: King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
- December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the United States would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
- December 16 - The midair collision between a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation over New York City kills all 128 on both planes and 6 persons on the ground.
- December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that started on December 13 and give power back to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
- December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, injuring 150 and killing 50.
- December 20 - Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation.
- December 27 - France sets off its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane, Algeria.

Births

January-February

- January 2 - Christian Bartolf, German political scientist and writer
- January 4 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)
- January 6 - Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer
- January 6 - Howie Long, American football player
- January 12 - Oliver Platt, Canadian actor
- January 13 - Kevin Anderson, American actor
- January 22 - Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (INXS) (d. 1997)
- January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
- January 29 - Greg Louganis, American diver
- January 29 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
- January 29 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
- February 4 - Adrienne King, American actress
- February 7 - James Spader, American actor
- February 10 - Robert Addie, British actor (d. 2003)
- February 11 - Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
- February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
- Feb